Subjects: Discussions with President Kim Dae-jung; Fiji
E & OE.............................
Ladies and Gentlemen
I have just had a very fruitful discussion over more than an hour and a half with the President and members of his government.
It is a real pleasure for me to be in Korea for the first time and certainly the first time as Prime Minister. There was an opportunity for me to express my personal admiration to the President for the tremendous example of a stoic and resolute commitment to democracy that his political career represents, not only here in this country, but also throughout the region and the world. Few men have endured as much as he has endured in the name of political liberty and democracy and he deserves the respect and the praise of all of us who preach and practice the democratic tradition.
I took the opportunity to congratulate the President on the great leadership he has shown in relation to progressing the links between South and North Korea. He naturally looks forward with anticipation to the meeting to take place in June; he welcomed the fact that Australia had announced a resumption of diplomatic relations with North Korea. I also remarked upon the great success that Korea has had in recovering her economy out of the depths of the Asian economic downturn. No country in the region has had a stronger bounce-back than Korea and the President's leadership in that is very important and I also thanked him for the Korean contribution to the INTERFET force which was not only most effective, but coming in the early stages of the assembly of that force, very valuable diplomatically.
The bilateral relationship is in very good condition and we have agreed to upgrade the ministerial exchanges in one important area and that is that there will be regular annual meetings between our foreign ministers and our trade ministers and in addition, we agreed that as part of the ongoing dialogue between our officials in the area of trade, we should begin to explore what scope there might be for some kind of free trade association between our two countries. We recognise that in the context of us remaining very committed to a new World Trade Organisation round and also the emergence of free trade associations within the region, that it would be useful as part of that ongoing dialogue to explore that issue.
Are there any questions?
JOURNALIST:
I have a question about trade links. Tony Walker from the Australian Financial Review. Is it planned to have a joint ministerial commission annually or will these be less formal talks as you have with China.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I don't know whether we'll call it a commission or not, but they will be no less important and no less formal than the discussions that take place with China.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister can I ask you two related trade questions. Were there any discussions about specific opportunities for Australian trade with Korea. Secondly was there any discussion about widening the ASEAN plus 3 relationship.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, there was certainly discussion about widening trade links. We noted that Korea was a very good customer of Australia's, although there had been some fluctuation in tonnages and so forth in relation to some of the commodity trade, but nonetheless a very strong purchaser of Australian goods and services. I thought there was greater scope for Australian investment in Korea, particularly because of Korea's impressive performance in coming out of the slump and I pointed out that if as part of our dialogue we could explore the opportunities for closer links that would be very beneficial.
The expanded ASEAN - there was some discussion of that - of course that is something that is proceeding but slowly because of the inevitable difficulties involved. One of the points I made to the President I think worth emphasising is that whilst we all have our eyes fixed on a new World Trade Organisation round, and as leader of the Cairns Group, Australia is still very committed to agricultural trade liberalisation, a point I made to the President, we must nonetheless take what bilateral opportunities there might be and certainly explore them, to expand trade and investment links between our two countries.
JOURNALIST:
Can I just ask you first about events in the South Pacific - the coup in Fiji. And secondly your reaction to the resignation of the Korean Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I don't have any comment on the second matter. I don't have any comment on that at all. As to the first issue, the information I have is that the Prime Minister of Fiji has been taken hostage by a group of armed civilians, that the police and the armed forces continue to support the duly elected government. The matter is being dealt with by the Fijian police. It is naturally of immense concern to me. I am horrified that such an act should be carried out against a democratically elected leader, a fellow Commonwealth Prime Minister, a person who was a guest in our country, Australia, only a matter of a few weeks ago. Somebody who was elected to office under a new constitution and I share the anxiety of many about the situation and I hope it can be peacefully resolved without any loss of life or injury.
It is a tense situation and that is all the information I have at the moment. My office has been in touch with the Australian High Commissioner in Suva and the information we have is based on the briefing that we received from the High Commissioner.
JOURNALIST:
I am from Diplomacy magazine. Welcome to Korea. Will you explain your view on South - North summit. And secondly did you discuss with the President about trade ministers regular meeting and did he accept. And will you tell me your possible impression of President Kim Dae-jung.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, if I can take the last question, first. I have a very warm attitude indeed towards the President. I said at the beginning of the news conference he has endured an enormous amount. He has been a wonderful democrat and a great believer in political freedom and he has suffered for his beliefs. And when you compare the travail of his political career with the political careers of us, I suppose, of less turbulent experience, it really is a very stark difference. And I do admire what he has endured and I respect very much the leadership he is giving to this country and I told him that he was greatly admired throughout the region.
I think you also asked me about whether the President had agreed to the Trade Ministers' talks. The answer is yes, he has. And also our attitude towards the North Korea South Korea dialogue. We are very positive about that. We welcome it. It's come about because of the commitment he has made to turning over a new page and Australia, of course, has made a contribution to KEDO and has provided humanitarian relief and we have opened diplomatic relations again, after 25 years, with North Korea. So we are very strongly supportive. And we do hope the dialogue is very positive and successful.
JOURNALIST:
Jeremy Custance from the Australian television pool. If the situation in Fiji does take a turn for the worse does the government have any plans to evacuate Australian nationals.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, as always in these situation, the authorities there, in collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, have contingency plans. I don't want to over-dramatise the situation. Obviously, our first concern is for the safety of Australians and every step will be taken to ensure that that safety is fully protected.
JOURNALIST:
I have two questions. The first one is in relation to the normalizing of diplomatic ties between North Korea and Australia. Well the Korean Government has mentioned that with this North and South Korean Summit, the South Korean Government is planning to make a huge investment to North Korea. But this investment cannot be done solely by Korean companies. It has to attract investment from overseas in parallel. So I wonder if Australia has any plan at all in making investment to North Korea in relation with normalizing diplomatic ties with North Korea.
My second question is that when you mentioned that with President Kim you agreed to sign the FTA so I would like to know did you actually sign the FTA or because if you have done this is a dramatic event because this will totally change the trade volume, trade relations and everything. So I wonder if there was an actual signing of the FTA or is it like making a suggestion on the table? Could you clarify on that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, certainly. The question of investment, that of course is a matter for indivudal companies and entrepreneurs. Governments don't normally make investments as such. And that is certainly not, the current Australian Government, we are not disposed to invest in particular commercial projects. In fact many of the Australians present will know that we are trying to disengage from some of the investments that the Australian Government now has. Look, the question of other general economic assistance for North Korea, that is something that will be dealt with in an appropriate way. I am not at this stage going to say yes or no in relation to that. We have only just begun to normalize our relations. It depends a great deal. We have been willing to help in the past with humanitarian aid and participating in KEDO. I think outside the core group, the United States, Japan and the European Union, Australia made the biggest contribution of all. So that is something that we will deal with as things come along. I don't want to flag anything at the present time.
The other question. No, we haven't signed a free trade agreement. What we agreed was that the scope for reaching some kind of agreement was something that ought to be explored by our officials as part of our ongoing trade dialogue but these things are realistically very hard to achieve, but it is our view that we should keep looking forward and seeing what opportunities exist because it is very important that the momentum for trade liberalization in all its forms be maintained.
I think I will have to conclude it at that. I am sorry I have got a ... One more question. Very quickly, Tony, I am sorry.
JOURNALIST:
Very quickly. In view of the weakness of regional currencies, including Australia's, was there any discussion about the issue, with the President, about the issue possibly of some sort of regional currency stabilization programme and is this a matter that you might talk about with the Finance Minister later today and what might Australia's position be.
PRIME MINISTER:
The answer to the first part of the question is no. The answer to the second part of the question is, I think, very unlikely. It would not be something that I would initiate.
Thank you.